LIMEWIRE - NEED HELP PLEASE

Question

Hello, I'm new to macs but I've love it and will never go back. A friend suggested the limewire site. I've downloaded one item only and now have read this forum about Limewire. I'm not tech savvy by anymeans but can someone tell me how to check to see if Limewire is running something in the background as suggested by other posts. The limewire version I've installed is the free one. Or if someone could tell me what program I could get that could monitor my Imac and notify me of viruses, spyware or trojan horses. When I bought this machine last week I was told that viruses and such are not a threat to Macs and that no mac has ever been infected in the last 5 years. (that was a sales agent at apple). Thank you very much for your help.

Answer 1

Your friend suggested Limewire for what purpose?
If to be used primarily to download music for free, you should not steal music.
There was a previous Limewire version that in effect installed spyware. A number of user's complained and reportedly, it was removed but I would be careful using any P2P network client like Limewire.
There are no viruses that currently effect or infect OS X but there is nothing preventing you from downloading a malicious script written for OS X that is masquerading as something legit on these P2P networks.
Not long ago, there was a malicious script written for OS X that was masquerading as a free download of Office X or Office 2004. When the download was launched, it completely erased the user's Home directory and no antivirus software would prevent something like this from happening so I would be careful. Unless you have a legit purpose/reason for using a P2P network client such as Limewire, not for downloading/stealing music, I would remove it from your hard drive regardless.
Regarding viruses, check Macs, viruses, and anti-virus software.
You can purchase a program/utility called Little Snitch at the following link.
http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html